Through the Inferno (Canto I)
by theHauntedMistress
Summary: Dante awakens to find himself lost in a dark forest, and when he tries to reach the other end of the dark valley, he is forced to turn back. He is met by the shade of his twin brother, Vergil, who offers to guide him to other side.


I saw this idea from thatisludicrous on Tumblr, who suggested that somebody write a DMC fanfiction with Dante and Vergil to the tune of the Divine Comedy. I just finished the Inferno, and figured I'd give it a try. I am going to go Canto by Canto to the best of my ability and if people really like this, then it will force me to keep up with the story. This is my first story on here, but please don't go easy on me if you leave critique. I really want to know what other people think of my writing.

**DISCLAIMER: I obviously did not write the beautiful poetry that is the Divine Comedy, full credit goes to Dante Alighieri. I also do not own Devil May Cry, Dante, Vergil, or anyone else I may mention in this story. **

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An ice-cold wind pulled at strands of silver hair, suspending them above their owner's head as he slept on the forest floor. He stirred, twisting his supine body in the bed of dead leaves at his back. The crunch underneath tore him from his slumber.

His snowy-blue eyes opened to the overwhelming grey of tangled limbs above his head.

"Where am I?" He whispered, rising from his prone position to sit on his buttocks, and then finally to stand. He brushed off the leaves from his leather trench coat. It stood out blood-red against the dark, grey forest.

His heart started to pound in his chest with a fear he was not used to. Before he slept, he remembered following a path, but now he was lost, weaponless, and powerless.

_I have lost the True Way,_ he thought to himself.

He began to walk through the forest, his mind still hazy with sleep and confusion. The only thing that kept him moving was his rapidly-beating heart pounding heavily in his chest, pumping adrenaline through his veins. He had never felt so human, brought to his knees by the dark forest that surrounded him. He desperately wanted to return to the familiar path.

But as he pressed through the forest, thorns and brush tearing at his leather pants, sometimes grabbing the bare skin of his chest, he saw a sudden break in the trees where they grew sparse and farther between the other.

He ran to the break, his eyes widening in surprise as he noticed the rising hill at the end of the valley, sun-kissed and warm in the coming daylight. The very sight filled him with such joy that the man was ready to climb. He waited until his heart slowed to a calmer tempo before making his ascent.

His gloved hands gripped the first ledge and he pulled himself up over the lip of the cliff, settling his feet before grabbing the next rock. The further he got, the more his soul filled with hope and his thoughts cleared their haze.

He was stopped short when three distinctive growls, each different from the other, rumbled ahead of him and filled his very body with dread.

In front of him stood a leopard, its haunches taut with a readied leap. The man tried to parry and rush forward to the right, but the leopard matched his every move. A great lion joined him, a roar piercing the air around it and causing the man to step backwards. Finally, a she-wolf bounded toward him.

Her jaws were ragged with white foam and dried blood, and she growled with a killing intent that caused the strong man to stagger and escape back the way he came.

He was met once more with the forest, and its new visitor.

The human form standing at the edge of the wood was bathed in blue mist and floated, angelic-like, a few inches from the ground. His ectoplasm drifted from his long coat and dissipated into thin air as he glided towards the man breathing hoarsely with fear and confusion.

The man fell to his knees before the shade, who's hair resembled the man's, except that it was swept back. His blue eyes were just blue lights that shone brightly in the recesses they lay in.

"Sir, whoever you are, I pray that you reach deep into your heart and help me. I am very lost, and the she-wolf forced me back to this place where all reason is lost."

The shade nodded.

"Dante, are you so without a path that you do not recognize your own brother?" Dante's head snapped towards the shade in front of him, felt the tears start at the edges of his eyes. They began to roll down his cheeks in warm streaks.

"Vergil," the young man choked, resting his head against the shade's leg. Vergil beckoned Dante to stand before him. "I am so lost without reason, and I have been without it ever since I lost _you._" The shade shuddered. "Please guide me, for I need to find the path again." Dante pointed to the hill at the end of the valley.

"But the she-wolf, she blocked my path and kept me from the ascent."

"The she-wolf kills all that approach her and will continue until the day the Greyhound comes and sends her back to Envy who created her. In order to reach the hill, we must take a different path.

"We must first pass through the land of eternal punishment and human suffering, then to the in-between, and finally to God's City where you will be on your own. I cannot enter God's City for I lived against his will."

Dante had been to Hell and survived, but weaponless and powerless, he was no match for a second trip.

"Then Vergil, my master, guide me through the corridors of Hell so that I may see reach the other side."

Vergil's shade began walking forward and gave a simple command to his younger twin—

"Follow."


End file.
